Chapter Four: Meet Draco Malfoy

A few minutes later, Cora and Bridgit were seated among Gryffindor students with Slytherins at the other side of the room. Hermione had insisted on sitting at the table next to them, while Neville ended up sitting next to Hermione because no one else wanted to be his partner. They had asked him why this was, and he had only muttered something about not being very good at potions, which they assumed was an understatement. Everyone looked miserable except for one boy. Before Snape arrived, that boy stood up. He had shockingly platinum blond hair and pale skin. His faded appearance was added to by his cold, blue eyes, which seemed to burn through everything. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, if it isn't the ragamuffins. I think it's a load of rubbish, you being on a cultural exchange: what are we to get out of it since you come from a backwater hole of a country? It's Dumbledore. He'll let anyone into this place! I suppose nothing should surprise me after he let in that giant half-baby." He leaned back, smugly riding the Slytherin snickers.

"Britain absolutely has an older established culture," Bridgit conceded, "but an unhealthy obsession with purity of aristocratic blood lines." She inclined her head, looking sympathetic, "Tell me: did your father marry your mother before or after he knew it was his sister?"

The boy went red in the face.

"You don't know who you're dealing with! I am Draco Malfoy!" He indignantly introduced himself, certain it would evoke fear and respect.

"So, what? You're the son of Dracula?"

"NO I'M NOT! I'm the son of one of the most influential members of this government, so you'd better watch it!" He screamed.

"You do realize that your government has no power or authority over us." Cora said coolly.

"Diplomatic immunity!" Bridgit cheered, holding up a card.

Malfoy emitted a frightened squeak. He sat down quickly and barked out orders.

"Crabbe! Goyle! Attack!"

"What's wrong? Can't speak in full sentences?" Bridgit childishly mocked him.

"You won't be able to shortly!" He screamed, turning a lovely shade of violet with rage.

Two ugly teens with greasy, unwashed hair and faces covered in pussy zits leapt up from their chairs and snarled menacingly. Cora winked and leaned over to grab a crowbar from her rucksack.

"NO! Diplomacy!" Bridgit whispered harshly.

Cora took out a smaller crowbar.

"Cora." Bridgit growled.

Crabbe and Goyle suddenly pushed Bridgit and Cora out of their chairs and laughed. Bridgit accidentally hit the back of her head on someone else's table and blacked out. Cora landed angrily and indignantly on her ass.

"But Professor Snape! We had to tell Dumbledore about Blindie!" Cora heard a voice protest.

"That's no excuse! You both get detention." Snape snapped at the tardy Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron knew better than to argue. Before anything else could be said, Cora began to emit shrieks and screams of pain. Forcing tears, she flopped limply to the ground and began to bawl in mock pain.

"What is going on?" Snape roared. "Crabbe! Goyle! What in the name of Merlin's Chastity Belt do you think you're doing?"

"Attack!" They roared in unison and began kicking Cora.

"Stop it this instant!" Snape yelled with veins beginning to throb in his forehead.

"Duh, what means stop?" Asked Crabbe.

"Duh, it means attack more." Replied Goyle.

Snape flew into an unbelievable rage. He had deducted ten billion points from Slytherin and had pulled the two boys by the ears all the way to Dumbledore's before he realized what he was doing. He left the two to be dealt with by Dumbledore and ran back to the classroom, realizing he had forgotten the exchange students. When he got back, the two girls were both conscious and nursing their wounds, and the entire class was sitting stony faced in terror.

"Why didn't anyone help these two!" He roared.

"Umm, because you said we weren't allowed to move until you got back." Said a timid voice.

"Well I don't care what I said before! You all get detention!" Snape paused, realizing that the other class present was Slytherin…his own house. "On second thought…Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasely will receive an additional two weeks of detention." He paused again. "Because…if I hadn't needed to go get them, then I would have been here to stop that horrible beating. Yes…that's it." He seemed quite smug with himself.

"Hermione! Flunkie! Take these two to the infirmary." Snape roared challengingly. "And you'd better be quick about it!" He spat.

Hermione and Flunkie grumbled and began dragging Cora and Bridgit from the room. When the two girls were sure they were out of earshot, they started laughing.

"You know," Hermione said wryly, "detention was worth seeing Crabbe and Goyle getting busted. Maybe they might even get suspended."

"Wait a minute! Aren't you capable of defending yourself against that? I mean, it's almost like you allowed it to happen." Flunkie exclaimed.

Before Bridgit and Cora were forced into explaining themselves, that Cora exaggerated her injuries and that Bridgit had been caught off guard, Flunkie disappeared in a pouf of smoke.

"What the hell?" Cora exclaimed.

"It was disturbing…but oddly convenient." Bridgit muttered.

With a puff of smoke, Dumbledore appeared before them. Everyone emitted a shriek of surprise.

"I wish you wouldn't do that!" Cora made to punch him in the face, but her respect of the elderly held her back.

"My appologies. I've come to say that Crabbe and Goyle are being expelled so as not to upset the relationship between our two countries." He winked. "I also wanted an excuse to get rid of them."

Bridgit nodded and with the air of a dignitary, she said,

"I accept your token of friendship. May our countries be allies in the hard times ahead."

Dumbledore nodded and disappeared again.

"I wonder where he'll appear next?" Hermione pondered.

At another end of the school, a tiny house elf named Strokie jumped back and screamed as the headmaster Dumbledore appeared in his cauldron of soup. Strokie, almost living up to his name, had a heart attack and died.

"Oh dear," Dumbledore sighed, "that's two in one day."

Cora and Bridgit, who had just come from the medical wing, gratefully finished off the mandarin oranges that Madame Pomfrey had given to them.

"That was much better than last time." Bridgit muttered as a headless man walked by.

Both girls stopped in shock and did a double take as they realized that the headless man wasn't a ghost. If it weren't for the man's attire, they wouldn't have been able to tell who it was, since he had no face. The man was garbed in flowing black robes, just like professor Snape. What really gave it away was the name badge that said 'Hello. My name is Professor Severus Snape'.

"Professor Snape?" Cora asked in alarm.

The figure turned slowly to face them.

"Uhhh, what happened?" Asked Bridgit.

"I'm terribly sorry that my appearance troubles you. I accidentally took too much vanishing potion. I'll see you ladies tomorrow in my potions…class. Ha ha ha!" He laughed at his own terrible joke and turned to walked on.

"He's too nice. His story is a transparent lie." Bridgit made a mutant baby of a joke.

"Well we don't have time to worry about that! We have to get to defense against the dark arts." Cora hurried Bridgit through the corridors until they reached a classroom.

Sitting at a desk before the class was a thin, pretty woman with red hair and green eyes. She smiled as all of the students filed in and took their seats.

"Good afternoon class," she said in a beautiful voice, "I am Professor Summersong. I'll be the new defense against dark arts teacher."

"How is someone like you going to teach us how to defeat monsters?" asked Malfoy indignantly. "Not all of us have feminine wiles.

The Professor smiled good-naturedly.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, you're too modest of your own attributes." She turned to address the class. "Now, I'm here to teach you defense against the dark arts. What many people do not realize, is that it isn't always necessary to be physically powerful or even in shape, although it certainly would help. All it requires is courage, discipline and a quick mind. You see, in situations such as those that would require my teachings, it is these three things that will most certainly save your life."

A murmur of approval spread through the class at her eloquent introduction. Malfoy, on the other hand, folded his arms across his chest and began muttering from underneath his desk where he was hiding out of fear. Without Crabbe and Goyle, he felt naked and exposed to the likelihood of his comeuppances.

"Today, I will teach you about the stratavarious spell. Can anyone tell me what the stratavarious spell is?"

Hermione began waving her hand urgently as Bridgit and Cora calmly raised their hands slowly.

"Yes Miss Granger."

Hermione's face lit up at the prospect of being chosen to answer a question. In her element, she sat up straight and began to speak in her trademark know-it-all voice.

"It's a spell that makes a giant, gold, violin appear which can crush even an elephant under its weight."

"I don't see how you could have gotten such a ridiculous idea into your head." Professor Summersong frowned whilst ignoring the myriad of far more ridiculous spells in her own repertoire. Like the one that changed unsightly moles into adorable kitten stickers

"What?" Hermione looked aghast, "I'm wrong?"

"I'm afraid so, dear. But that's okay-"

Hemione ran crying from the room. Ron suddenly looked uncomfortable and turned to Harry.

"Darn. I think maybe I shouldn't have magically changed her textbook. Now she'll never date me." He whined.

"Do you think Reagan likes me?" Harry asked distractedly.

"Huh? Hey! We're talking about me for once!" Ron snapped.

"Unless you'd like to repeat that entire conversation to the rest of the class, I suggest you pay attention." Professor Summersong scolded them.

Ron started to open his mouth, but Harry nudged him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Miss Willowstaff, could you tell the class what this spell does."

Cora leaned back in her chair and put her feet on the desk.

"Well, basically, it's a beautiful song that keeps you enraptured in the sound. If you listen until the end of the song, you'll die."

"Very good, that is correct. However I disapprove of your devil may care attitude. Today, I'll be teaching you how to defend against this spell. Do not worry; the spell is only fatal when you hear the whole song. It is a clean method of assassination without a way to find who was at fault; however it hasn't really been used since the early days of You-Know-Who. In the early 80's they switched to using the killing curse, finding it more in keeping with their death motif."

The rest of the class was spent with Professor Summersong casting the spell and trying to get her students to protect themselves from its enchanting melody. By the end of the class, only Bridgit, Cora, and Harry had been able to resist it totally. Hermione hadn't come back at all during the class and there was a certain amount of speculation as to whether or not she would have been able to resist it as well. In fact, upon learning that homework for next class would be to perfect defenses against the spell pending another the following day, everyone was laying down their bets. Chinsey Ragamuffin grinned at all of the sickles he held in his hands. Odds were twenty to one that Hermione would actually succeed in holding off the spell. The way things looked, he was bound to make a nice profit. He chuckled as he left the room.

"Good work today, girls. You put in a commendable effort. It's not easy to resist that spell. Pass on that message to Harry as well." Professor Summersong called after Bridgit and Cora as they headed out.

Cora smirked with pride as she strutted all down the hallway. Bridgit was pleased to get a compliment and especially pleased with that one. It was such nice music that she could barely resist the temptation to listen to the whole thing.

"Oh…speaking of Harry, we're supposed to be guarding him." Bridgit realized.

"Oh yeah. We'd better catch up."

They started running after Harry and Ron.

"Hey, Harry! Wait up!" Cora called out to them.

"I'm just so in love with you Harry! I need to let you know right now!" Bridgit mocked Cora by quietly imitating her.

"What?" Harry turned around in confusion.

Cora didn't care that he hadn't heard Bridgit. She drew back her fist and punched her friend square in the face.

Bridgit fell to the ground in a twitching heap.

"Quiet you!" Cora snapped. "Let's go!" She turned to Harry and Ron.

"What about her?" Ron pointed to Bridgit, voicing the question on both of the horrified boys' minds.

"Meh. Leave her. She'll be fine." Cora glared at her immobilized friend. "Oh….ummm…Prof. Summersong says 'good job'." Cora added to try and break the terror-inspired silence.

"Oh. Okay." Harry said distractedly.

"Well? Let's go!" Cora said impatiently.

Both boys flinched.

"Yes ma'am!" They chorused.

They took off. Two minutes later, Bridgit sprang to her feet.

"Wait for meeeee!" She wailed.

She caught up to the party of three at the portrait leading to the Gryffindor common room.

"I think you almost knocked a tooth loose that time!" Bridgit struck up conversation.

"Well, I have taken to wearing this ring I 'found'." Cora displayed a large ring shaped like a skull made of diamonds.

"Neat!" Bridgit laughed, blood gushing from her mouth.

"…You two have a strange relationship. And I don't mean Dumbledore and Hagrid strange." Harry muttered, clearly disturbed.

"No! We're just really close." Cora objected.

"We've known each other since we be tweenies!" Bridgit added.

"Right." Both clearly had no idea what that meant.

"Excuse me!" A crisp, irritated voice snapped as a prissy blonde wench tried to push through their group. "You're blocking the way to the common room!"

The small gathering parted for her.

"Sorry, Lemoney." Cora fake-apologized.

"She's such a bitch." Bridgit whispered after Lemoney had gone in behind the portrait.

"It's not just chance that her last name is Strumpet." Harry snickered.

"Yeah! I heard she even polished Fudgey's broomstick." Ron lowered his voice, clearly loving being a gossip.

"I'm starting to think that maybe I wasn't crazy when I thought I heard a baby crying in the walls." Bridgit looked slightly mortified.

"She should be careful or else she'll end up with lemony crumpets in the oven." Harry burst out laughing at his own joke.

Bridgit and Cora smiled in pity at the two friends, now roaring with laughter at their attack on teen pregnancy.

"You know, maybe you blokes aren't so bad after all." Ron smiled back, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Glad you think so." Cora muttered.

"Are you going to stand out there all day or are you going to come in!" The portrait snapped at them.

"Sorry!" Bridgit yelped in surprise.

The four entered the common room, not as two groups of friends, but as a group of four friends united by a common hatred of someone else. Kumbaya. Cora suddenly stiffened upon hearing a soft click, which no one else seemed to notice. She grabbed Bridgit' arm, causing her to stop in her tracks. It was only then that the four of them noticed the ropes and pulleys strung all across the room. That and the fact that Ron had just set off the trip wire.

"Oh no…" Ron looked in horror at his foot.

"What the hell is this?" Cora asked.

"Well…I heard some people talking about…well…maybe kind of…giving you a bit of a hard time by… … setting booby traps all over the place." Ron explained squeamishly.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Cora demanded.

"Well, I didn't know they'd gone through with it! Besides, I didn't want to invoke your wrath!" Ron explained as the pulleys began to move, attached to various weights suspended throughout the room.

"Well, I'd say now my wrath is pretty invoked!" Cora growled.

"I wonder what the trap is?" Harry wondered aloud, ignoring everyone but himself.

"Ummm…how about something to do with that?" Bridgit muttered dryly, pointing to a cannon in the middle of the room.

The portrait swung open behind them, but no one paid any attention to it.

"The only thing to do now is to get it before it gets us!" Cora raised her arms, preparing for an attack.

"No need." Said a voice from behind.

"You're in no danger where you are." An identical voice added.

"Although Harry and Ron are."

Bridgit and Cora turned around as the cannon fired. Behind them stood two identical boys with flaming red hair. They ignored the screams of Harry and Ron.

"I'm Fred Weasely and this is my brother, George." Fred introduced themselves.

"Charmed!" Bridgit shook their hands.

"So what do you guys know about traps? How did you know it wouldn't hit us?" Cora asked, suspicious that they might have been the instigators.

"Well, we've made a fair number of traps ourselves and we could tell that the result of this one's failure to hit its targets was simply bad physics." George explained.

"Ahhhhh! We're covered in purple spots!" Ron yelled.

"Blimey!" Harry added.

Both of the boys were, not surprisingly, covered in bright purple spots. Bridgit fought to hold back her laughter.

"I say, Ron! That really brings out the colour in your eyes. Mum'll be impressed!" Fred winked.

"Why didn't you warn us?" Ron demanded indignantly.

"We DID. If only you'd listened!" George laughed.

~This seems like a time to ensure friendly relations with the Potter kid.~ Cora thought irately.

"Oh! Harry and Ron! Thank you both so much for shielding us from the trap, even though you didn't know what it would do! How selfless! How brave! I can tell we're going to be best friends forever." Cora said, rather convincingly.

Everyone gave her an odd look.

"All in a days work." Harry said slowly, offering what he hoped was a dashing grin.

~They think I'm great! Hurrah!~ Ron thought to himself.

"Maybe you guys should go to the infirmary and get those removed." Bridgit suggested.

"Yeah. I don't think that Reagan digs the colour purple." Cora said in an offhanded sort of way.

"Oh. Well, we should get these off right away." Harry said quickly. "Not that it has anything to do with what you said, but it's best to make sure that this won't have any adverse effects on my dear friend Ron's health." Harry grabbed Ron and bolted from the room.

Sammy and Reagan came through the door, looking rather amused.

"Just what was all that about?" Sammy asked. "He threw a bag over his head and bolted after he saw us."

"Oh. Harry and Ron got shot by a trap." Bridgit loosely explained.

"Yes. They selflessly sacrificed their bodies for the sake of these two, fragile young ladies." George crooned in falsetto, mocking Cora.

"Fragile my ass." Sammy raised an eyebrow.

"I HAPPEN TO BE VERY DELICATE!" Cora growled, kicking her in the stomach.

Sammy fell to the ground and didn't move.

"Oh dear." Reagan muttered. "Why do you always have to be so violent?"

"Well, why do YOU have to be so violent?" Cora shot back.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Or does it?"

"Well, while you two are busy being delicate, Fred and I are off to supper." George teased them.

"Supper!" Sammy jumped up.

"What's with all these strings?" Neville asked as he came down the stairs.

"Never mind that. Let's just go to dinner." Reagan sighed.

They exited the Gryffindor common room, irritating the fat lady in the process.

"I just let you in, you assholes! You think I like looking at this wall?"

And so ended their first day at Hogwart's, although upon asking around they never did find out who laid the trap.